JOIN USThe bodies of 20-year-old Pratibha Shukla and Dara Yadav bore bullet marks and were found lying close to each other on the roof of Pratibha’s house in Bihuli Somali village on Thursday.
The male members of the girl’s family have been absconding since the incident while the women of the family claimed that the driver first shot the girl and later killed himself following a brief argument. The people of the village, however, tell a different story and the police also suspect honour killing.
According to reports, Dara Yadav worked as a driver with one Narpat Shukla, Pratibha’s father. He was dismissed a few months back after the Shuklas grew suspicious of his character. It was alleged that he was having an affair with Pratibha.
Sources said Dara used to visit Pratibha, who was preparing for competitive examinations and lived in Gorakhpur, around 50 km from her village. Some of the members of Pratibha’s family had called Dara for some work on Wednesday and asked him to stay for the night after the work was over.
Pratibha, incidently, was present at the house on that day, sources said. The villagers heard gunshots in the night and rushed to Shukla’s house but they were asked to go back and told that it was accidental fire, reports said. A village chowkidar was informed about the bodies lying on the roof.